Rookie sailing opportunity advice

[Captain Sillyboxes]

Hi all I have just registered with this forum, apologies if this post is in the wrong folder etc.

More than two decades ago as a teenager I spent two summers cruising on a traditional gaff schooner. We crossed the channel, bay of biscay etc and I learnt the basics of how to sail. Since then I haven't sailed apart from a bit of windsurfing. Then a couple of weeks ago I had a sort of epiphany and realised that I have a burning desire to do it again. Not in a dinghy on a reservoir but on the open water in a yacht large enough to live in and venture far offshore. Ideally made of wood and traditionally rigged but one thing at a time...

This represents a radical departure from my current life and there are numerous practical difficulties but I am now determined to attempt to systematically surmount these difficulties if at all possible. The first difficulty is that I need to live near the sea, and for this to happen it would be necessary for my wife to 'buy in' to the dream! She has no sailing experience at all. So the first stage is to arrange a day-trip where my wife can go sailing, in the hope that she likes it. I'd rather this be in a cruising-sized yacht rather than a RYA dinghy-sailing taster.

Does anyone have any suggestions of a good way in? Is it best to book on a RYA sailing course, or are there more informal ways to have a first foray onto the water?

thanks

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Hello and welcome along. Your strategy of ensuring your wife is properly engaged with this plan is wise... The RYA offer 'Start Yachting' courses aimed exactly at this situation, you'll be out in UK coastal locations aboard a cruising yacht with an instructor and all gear etc provided. You'll probably be sharing with others.

Search online at the RYA website to find a provider near you.

 

[Captain Sillyboxes]

thanks for the welcome! I am emailing a couple of sailing clubs now...

 

[Sticky Fingers]

My experience is that it's better to phone. Where in the country are you?

 

[Captain Sillyboxes]

I'm in birmingham, just about as far from the sea as there is and ~ equidistant to Bristol channel, Wirral, Conwy, Dovey etc. Will ring an rya centre or two today as I don't want to miss the end of the season!

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Ha yes. Best of luck, let us know how you get on.

 

[Captain Sillyboxes]

Just booked ourselves onto a 2 day introduction to sailing course out of conwy!

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Good for you, hope it goes well!

 

[Angele]

Welcome to the forum, Sillyboxes.

I was in a similar position to you back in 2003. I had sailed as a kid, both dinghies and (only as crew) on larger sailing boats. I was born and brought up on a small island, so messing about with boats came with the territory.

I moved to the UK nearly 30 years ago now, and started working in London. The sea then seemed so far away that I never even considered sailing as viable, as compared to what I had been used to (max 3 miles from the sea!). So I stopped thinking about it. And, for more than half of those 30 years, I never set foot on another sailing boat.

Then, in 2003 I got an opportunity to get back on the water - a night sail from Chichester to Cowes. And I remembered how much I loved sailing. And how I needed to get back into it. And that is what I did.

By then I was living in north Hertfordshire. Maybe not as far from the sea as you, but still a long way. Can I just point out one incorrect logical step in the conclusions you have reached? You do not need to live by the sea in order to sail. You just have to find a way to make it work. I still live in that same house I was living in 2003. It is 100 miles by road to where I keep the boat. Sure, that rules out day sailing or looking out the window and deciding it looks like a nice day to get out on the water. But that just means you have to think ahead and do more planning.

As Graham says, a Start Yachting course is a great way for you to get back into it. And for your wife to decide if it is for her. So it is great that you have booked one.

As Graham also points out, it is very important for Mrs Sillyboxes to be alongside you on the journey you are about to take. Here is the "do as I say, not as I do" bit. I didn't. In 2003 I already had a young child, so one of us had to look after him, whilst the other could do the RYA courses to build up the skills required to charter a boat. Mrs Angele stayed at home whilst I did Day Skipper and various specialist sailing courses. In hindsight, that was a big mistake. Sailing had become my hobby, not hers.

If you don't have children then it is easier to go on that journey together. If you do, can a family member babysit for a few days, so you can learn as a couple?

Where you go after your Start Yachting course is entirely up to you. In part it will depend on the time you (as a couple) wish to commit to this new pastime, and also on the budget you have available to you. Don't feel the need to rush out and buy a boat, though. There are lots of ways to get out on the water without the commitment of a yacht purchase. It is certainly worth getting up to Day Skipper standard (both theory and practical), but this doesn't have to be done immediately. (It is almost certainly, however, a prerequisite to being able to charter without needing a skipper). A good way to build up experience is for the two of you to crew for someone else. Join a yacht club with an active sailing programme, and/or sign up to crewing websites like sailing networks (free) or crewseekers. There are always skippers out there needing crew.

Oh, and bear in mind that the best traditional wooden boats always belong to someone else. Leave them to worry about the maintenance and the bills.

Above all, enjoy. :encouragement:

 

[Wandering Star]

Hi Sillyboxes, welcome to the forum, although the advice given so far is good, you'd probably get a far greater response if you posted on the Scuttlebutt forum rather than the crewing forum. The crewing forum is more for specific crewing opportunities and rarely viewed by forumites whereas Scuttlebutt is for general sailing and general sailing advice and your post will be seen by the masses and generate much more interest. You could ask the moderators to move this post for you - just press the small triangle in the bottom left of the display - they'll be happy to help I'm sure.